Dmitriev, Clair claim sprint championships

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Morning Session

Chris Hoy (Great Britain) qualified fastest in the men's sprint, covering the 200m time trial in 9.999 seconds as the only rider to crack the 10 second barrier. France's Kevin Sireau (France) finished second in the qualifying round, clocking 10.097 seconds while Dutchman Roy Van Den Berg followed in third with 10.113 seconds.

Hoy's pursuit of the men's European sprint championship would go no further than the 1/16 finals, however, as Ireland's Felix English surprisingly eliminated Hoy. At the conclusion of the morning session's sprint rounds four riders have advanced through to the evening session's semifinals: Denis Dmitriev (Russian Federation), Kevin Sireau (France), Jason Kenny (Great Britain) and Damian Zielinski (Poland).

In the women's sprint competition Olga Panarina (Belarus) finished first in the qualifiers with a time of 11.166 seconds, followed by Great Britain's Jessica Varnish, 11.273 seconds and France's Clara Sanchez, 11.321 seconds.

Panarina comfortably advanced through the morning session's sprint rounds to reach the evening's semifinals. The second through fourth fastest qualifiers, however, were all eliminated in the 1/8 and 1/4 finals. Panarina is joined in the semifinals by Kristina Vogel (Germany), Simona Krupeckaite (Lithuania) and Sandie Clair (France).

The first two events of the men's omnium took place in the morning session, with Edward Clancy (Great Britain) winning the 250m flying lap in 13.244 seconds and Ioannis Tamouridis (Greece) claiming the 30km points race. Rafal Ratajczyk (Poland) leads after two rounds with 7 points from his fifth place finish in the flying lap and second place in the points race. Tim Veldt (Netherlands) and Roger Kluge (Germany) follow closely in second and third, each with nine points.

The women's omnium got underway with one event in the morning session, the 250m flying lap, won by Malgorzata Wojtyra (Poland) in 14.644 seconds. Vilija Sereikaite (Lithuania) clocked 14.737 for second place, while Spain's Leire Olaberria Dorronsoro finished third in 14.843 seconds.

Evening session

The evening session saw even more drama in the latter stages of the sprint competition. Home favourite Damian Zielinski (Poland) beat Russia’s Denis Dmitriev in race one of their semi-final but his joy would prove to be short lived. In the second race, the commissaires judged the Pole to be guilty of dangerous riding and disqualified him from the competition.

Dmitriev thus advanced to the final, where he went to meet Kevin Sireau of France, who accounted for Britain’s Jason Kenny in his semi-final. After the earlier elimination of Chris Hoy, Sireau was left as favourite to take gold but ultimately he had no answer to the Russian in the final. Dmitriev finished the contest in two sprints to take a well-merited gold medal.

Meanwhile, with Zielinski disqualified, Jason Kenny was assured of bronze, although the regulations demanded that he show up at the start line nonetheless. “It was a weird feeling standing there,” Kenny said. “But given that Zielinski’s Polish, at least I didn’t get booed.”

The women’s sprint was a rather more straightforward matter, with Sandy Claire (France) emerging victorious. She eased past Olga Panarina (Belarus) to reach the final, where she would face Germany’s Kristina Vogel in the race for gold. Vogel’s passage to the final was a little more difficult, as she needed three sprints to get the better of one of the pre-competition favourites Simona Krupeckaite (Lithuania).

Ultimately, the German’s efforts in getting to the final appear to have compromised her performance in the race itself as the sparkling Clair looked the fresher of the two. The Frenchwoman took gold, while Krupeckaite claimed the final step on the podium after Panarina failed to start the bronze medal match.

Meanwhile, the omnium continued apace in the evening session. In the men’s elimination race, Roger Kluge (Germany) was the last man standing, ahead of Poland’s Rafal Ratajczyk and Jan Dostal of the Czech Republic. After three rounds of the event, Ratajczyk remains on course to take the gold, on 9 points, while Kluge is in second place on 10. Dutchman Tim Veldt remains in contention in 3rd place with 13 points.

The evening session saw two events in the women’s omnium The 20km points race was dominated by Germany’s Madelein Sandig, with Azerbaijan’s Elena Tchalykh a distant second. In the elimination race, Czech Jarmila Machacova prevailed ahead of the Ukraine’s Elizaveta Bochkaryova and Jolien D’Hoore of Belgium.

Leire Olaberria Dorronsoro (Spain) leads the event after three rounds, a point clear of Machacova, with D’Hoore five points back in 3rd place.

Morning Session

Evening Session